Detective Robert Sirois

He currently works in cyber security. He recently moved to Florida but lived in Colorado Springs in 2020. In January 2020 he was a detective at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office; he had been with them for 7 years.

Background

One of his duties was going to the airport to gather surveillance from the rental car area.
On the morning of January 29th 2020 he was assigned to look for video of Letecia’s rental car at the Colorado Springs Airport.
Colorado Springs Police, assigned to the airport, assisted.
Sirois went to the Avis rental car counter and spoke with the manager there.
Avis has their own cameras at the counter; the manager worked on getting that footage for Sirois.
The car was a white Kia Rio with Texas plates.
Around 8:50 AM or 9 on January 28th, Letecia rented the car.
Some of the footage shows her as well in the rental car area.
He was familiar with Letecia’s description from being brief for the assignment.
The manager gave him Letecia’s rental agreement.
Efforts were made to locate the Tiguan; other detectives handled that.
The airport was one location they may have been looking, some detectives searched the airport.
While Sirois was there, an attendant says she was handed the keys to the vehicle about 10 minutes ago by the same person who was on the footage.
She drove away in a white Jetta with another female.
Sirois had no idea the car was returned or was going to be returned at the time.
The Kia was parked in the short term parking area not the rental car return area.
Sirois points out the defendant as the person he saw in the surveillance video.
Permission to search the car was obtained from Avis via email.
Photos of the Kia were taken; the doors were opened and more photos were taken; what could be seen visually was documented; gloves were put on and then he looked through the car.
Exhibits 234 - 238 are photographs of the Kia Rio.
E234 is a photo of the car in the short term parking.

You can see other cars that have nothing to do with the investigation.

There are signs at the airport that indicate long and short term parking and the rental car return.
The rental return area does not require a ticket to park; short and long term parking do. There is a gate that stops you and you press a button to get a ticket. Less than an hour or so is free.
E235 is a picture between the driver’s seat and the door down on the carpet in that gap.

A short term parking ticket is down there.

E236 is a photo of one side of the parking ticket.
E237 is a photo of the back side of the parking ticket.

The ticket is from January 28th 2020 at 4:41 PM. That’s the time the ticket was obtained at the gate.

E238 is an evidence envelope.

The ticket is inside.

He explains what Cellebrite is.
He has a fair amount of training in forensics including Cellebrite specific training and has done about 300 extractions.
He explains the process of Cellebrite. He does a very good and understandable job “Cellebrite says hey phone give me all your pictures and the phone says okay here you go” etc.
He did a Cellebrite extraction on Al Stauch’s iPhone.
Exhibit 226 is an evidence envelope with a CD containing a Cellebrite report and photographs of Al Stauch’s cell phone.

Cross Examination

He took DNA swabs from the trunk of the Kia, the steering wheel, the shifter, the internal driver door latch.
It is unknown if the swabs were tested.
There is a difference for doing a Cellebrite download if you have the phone’s password vs not having it.
In most cases locked phones give less information than phones you know the pin or password of.

Detective Robert Sirois

Background

One of his duties was going to the airport to gather surveillance from the rental car area.

On the morning of January 29th 2020 he was assigned to look for video of Letecia’s rental car at the Colorado Springs Airport.

Colorado Springs Police, assigned to the airport, assisted.

Sirois went to the Avis rental car counter and spoke with the manager there.

Avis has their own cameras at the counter; the manager worked on getting that footage for Sirois.

The car was a white Kia Rio with Texas plates.

Around 8:50 AM or 9 on January 28th, Letecia rented the car.

Some of the footage shows her as well in the rental car area.

He was familiar with Letecia’s description from being brief for the assignment.

The manager gave him Letecia’s rental agreement.

Efforts were made to locate the Tiguan; other detectives handled that.

The airport was one location they may have been looking, some detectives searched the airport.

While Sirois was there, an attendant says she was handed the keys to the vehicle about 10 minutes ago by the same person who was on the footage.

She drove away in a white Jetta with another female.

Sirois had no idea the car was returned or was going to be returned at the time.

The Kia was parked in the short term parking area not the rental car return area.

Sirois points out the defendant as the person he saw in the surveillance video.

Permission to search the car was obtained from Avis via email.

Photos of the Kia were taken; the doors were opened and more photos were taken; what could be seen visually was documented; gloves were put on and then he looked through the car.

Exhibits 234 - 238 are photographs of the Kia Rio.

E234 is a photo of the car in the short term parking.

You can see other cars that have nothing to do with the investigation.

There are signs at the airport that indicate long and short term parking and the rental car return.

The rental return area does not require a ticket to park; short and long term parking do. There is a gate that stops you and you press a button to get a ticket. Less than an hour or so is free.

E235 is a picture between the driver’s seat and the door down on the carpet in that gap.

A short term parking ticket is down there.

E236 is a photo of one side of the parking ticket.

E237 is a photo of the back side of the parking ticket.

The ticket is from January 28th 2020 at 4:41 PM. That’s the time the ticket was obtained at the gate.

E238 is an evidence envelope.

The ticket is inside.

He explains what Cellebrite is.

He has a fair amount of training in forensics including Cellebrite specific training and has done about 300 extractions.

He explains the process of Cellebrite. He does a very good and understandable job “Cellebrite says hey phone give me all your pictures and the phone says okay here you go” etc.

He did a Cellebrite extraction on Al Stauch’s iPhone.

Exhibit 226 is an evidence envelope with a CD containing a Cellebrite report and photographs of Al Stauch’s cell phone.

Cross Examination

He took DNA swabs from the trunk of the Kia, the steering wheel, the shifter, the internal driver door latch.

It is unknown if the swabs were tested.

There is a difference for doing a Cellebrite download if you have the phone’s password vs not having it.

In most cases locked phones give less information than phones you know the pin or password of.